Author: BlackMask Financial

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Iran begins operating Goreh-Jask oil pipeline

https://youtu.be/A542UBB6Xv8

(Bloomberg) — Iran started its first transfer of crude oil via its strategic Goreh-Jask pipeline, allowing the country to bypass the Strait of Hormuz, the state-run Islamic Republic News Agency reported. The oil passed through the pipeline’s second pump house and reached a facility near the port of Jask, IRNA said, without giving any details on the size or volume of the transfer. Earlier this month the state-run National Iranian Oil Co. said it had started injecting crude into the pipeline and that oil shipments from the Jask region on the Gulf of Oman coast will start next month, adding that the 1,000-kilometer (620-mile) conduit will be officially opened by President Hassan Rouhani in the near future. Iran to Start Oil Exports From Port Skirting Troubled Strait Most of Iran’s energy exports currently pass through the Strait of Hormuz, a narrow shipping channel on the Persian Gulf that was plunged into crisis after former President Donald Trump abandoned the 2015 nuclear deal and reinforced sanctions on Iran’s oil sector and wider economy. Oil markets are closely watching talks between Iran and world powers to revive that accord and remove a raft of U.S. sanctions from the Islamic Republic’s energy sector and wider economy, helping it reinstate millions of barrels of exports. Earlier this month Rouhani said negotiators had already accepted that sanctions on Iran’s oil, shipping, insurance and banking industries will be lifted, triggering a drop in oil prices.  Nick Note: US domestic oil production is not returning. You would think at $70 oil it would be a bonanza. But the greenie winnies have got oil companies scared. Pipelines shut in by the Biden administrations and investors burnt many time they are not willing to recapitalize production. So Iran will save the day……

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US posts lowest increase in COVID cases since March 2020

The U.S. has reported the lowest number of Covid-19 cases in more than a year, as the nation’s airports over Memorial Day weekend experienced the largest number of travelers since the pandemic began. The 11,976 new cases reported on May 29 were the lowest since March 23, 2020, when 11,238 new cases were reported, according to data from Johns Hopkins University. The seven-day average of 21,007 is the lowest since March 31 of last year, when it was 19,363. Friday also saw the TSA report the highest number of travelers since the pandemic began, with more than 1.9 million people taking to the skies for the long weekend. At the same point last year, the TSA counted just 327,000 passengers at its checkpoints. The World Health Organization officially declared Covid-19 a global pandemic on March 11, 2020. The U.S. reported 1,147 Covid cases that day. The pandemic would go on to infect more than 33 million people in the U.S. and kill nearly 600,000 people. Within a week of the WHO declaration, daily TSA travel numbers dropped from 1.7 million to 620,000. By March 25, the number was at 203,000. Since March 11, 2021, the daily number of fliers has remained above 1 million. More than 60% of U.S. adults have at least one dose of a Covid vaccine, while 40.5% of adults are fully vaccinated, according to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data. President Biden announced earlier this month that his administration is aiming to increase the number of adults with at least one dose to 70% by July 4. He also said he wants 160 million American adults fully vaccinated by the same date. “If we succeed in this effort,” Biden said during his announcement, “then Americans will have taken a serious step toward a return to normal.” The CDC recently said fully vaccinated people do not need to wear masks in most settings, though masks are still required on airplanes, buses, trains and public transportation. Cities across the country are lifting restrictions on indoor dining and gatherings as cases fall and vaccinations increase. White House chief medical advisor Dr. Anthony Fauci has repeatedly said that he wants to see daily case numbers drop below 10,000 before a broad relaxation of safety measures takes place. Nick Note: this is where we separate the girls from the women. The vaccinated from the unvaccinated. In my survey of hospitalized covid patients seriously ill. Almost ALL of them are people who have not been vaccinated

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British agents: Wuhan lab leak ‘feasible’ – report

The Vaccines Minister has insisted that the World Health Organization must be able to fully investigate the origins of the pandemic, following reports that British agents believe it is “feasible” that the coronavirus emerged after a laboratory leak. Speaking to Sky News, Nadhim Zahawi said it’s vital that the WHO is “allowed to conduct its investigation unencumbered” as it seeks to better understand how the initial outbreak began, adding that “we should leave no stone unturned”.There has been renewed interest in how the pandemic began this week, after President Joe Biden asked US intelligence agencies to re-investigate the origins and report back in 90 days. Facebook also said it will no longer ban posts claiming Covid-19 was man made. According to a Sunday Times report, Western intelligence – including Britain – at first considered there was only a “remote” chance that it had leaked from the Wuhan Institute of Virology, where research is conducted into bat-derived coronaviruses. But there has since been a reassessment, and a lab escape is thought “feasible”, sources revealed. Yet, amid mounting tensions between China and the West, the WHO’s director of emergencies, Dr Mike Ryan, warned on Friday that efforts to better understand how the virus emerged are “being poisoned by politics”. “We would like for everyone out there to separate, if they can, the politics of this issue from the science,” he told a press conference. Nick Note: You may recall before they even decided it was a pandemic and they were loading infected  people in ambulances to take them back to the nursing homes to slaughter the innocents we told you it was a lab modified virus. Point in we named the laboratory and published a picture. You remember that was when the virus gods Dr Falsey told you no need to wear masks……..  They will never admit the truth that over 10 million Americans died and 100 million world wide. I will always regret my very small footprint. And my inability to get ugly masks to the masses. Only now they backhanded admit the versus spreads as a aerosol….. And the FACT that toilet paper and coffee filter masks are a joke and you can wipe your ass with social distancing.. I wish i could have done more..We were banned on all social media and emails were labeled as spam. Copy writes, list brokers quit us as crazies…… All i can say is quack QUACK QUACK……..

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10 serious COVID patients given Israeli drug, leave hospital in one day

The data showed a 40% decrease in lung inflammation from treatment – from 55% to 15%, as seen in chest X-rays * Rambam Health Care Campus doctor: ‘Results extremely impressive’

An Israeli biotechnology company has revealed a 100% success rate in the first 10 patients treated with its drug as part of an early-stage clinical trial at Rambam Health Care Campus in Haifa. The company, Bonus BioGroup, presented the preliminary findings of its Phase I/II trial to peers at the International Society for Cell & Gene Therapy conference in New Orleans last week and shared the results in a statement released to the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange. The Jerusalem Post reviewed the PowerPoint presented at the conference and the five-page letter sent to the exchange. The company’s CEO and director, Dr. Shai Meretzki, told the Post that the team is now working on publishing its results in a peer-reviewed journal.  Bonus’ MesenCure, which consists of activated Mesenchymal Stromal Cells (MSCs) that are isolated from the adipose tissue of healthy donors, was found to reduce inflammation, promote the regeneration of the diseased lung tissue and alleviate respiratory and other symptoms in patients suffering from life-threatening respiratory distress brought on by COVID-19. “So far, the results of the treatment with the drug MesenCure are extremely impressive and an improvement over the results of other treatments,” said Dr. Shadi Hamoud, principal investigator in the clinical trial and deputy director of the Department of Internal Medicine E at Rambam.  He said the results were so promising that the hospital was already examining use of the treatment for other indications.  Bonus reported on 10 COVID-19 patients between the ages of 45 to 75, all with severe symptoms. Ninety percent of them also had comorbidities. The data showed a 40% decrease in lung inflammation from treatment – from 55% to 15%, as seen in chest X-rays. Additionally, patients showed significantly improved respiratory function, with blood oxygen saturation showing a 95% increase and lung functioning returning to almost entirely normal levels after only one month. Meretzki shared a laboratory image of a healthy lung, a sick lung and lung treated with MesenCure. “The treated lung looks almost identical to the normal, healthy lung – complete healing, complete prevention of damage to the lung,” Meretzki said.  Most strikingly, patients were discharged from the hospital after a median duration of only one day following injection. And there were no adverse effects associated with MesenCure, the company reported. Meretzki said the trial followed patients for 30 days post administration of the treatment. All but one had survived. The patient who died did not pass away from COVID-19 but a comorbidity. Many COVID-19 patients die because of an increase in the production of inflammatory molecules called cytokine, rather than the virus itself, Meretzki explained. When the immune system secretes too many cytokines, a so-called “cytokine storm” can erupt. Such an excessive immune response ravages healthy lung tissue, leading to acute respiratory distress syndrome or failure, and eventually death. Bonus was founded in 2008. It has been working with MSCs for a decade from its Haifa headquarters, where it developed its core product, a tissue-engineered bone graft that is also based on MSCs. Meretzki said that MSCs are cells that are “found in every one of us; they are responsible for damage control and a variety of day-to-day activities.”

 When the coronavirus outbreak started in early 2020, Bonus started investigating the potential of MSCs to possibly reduce the cytokine storm in COVID-19 patients. The Phase II trial is slated to continue at Rambam and include another 50 patients. However, because of the low-level of infection in Israel, Bonus has applied for approval to carry out the trial in Europe as well, Meretzki said. He told the Post that the Phase II trial should be completed quickly once the remaining patients are fully enrolled. There are still a high number of serious COVID cases worldwide. As of May 28, Meretzki shared, there were 93,956 serious cases out of 14,603,155 total cases – about 0.6%. Nick Note: this is the most promising study i have ever seen on treating serious ill patience
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TSA screened 2 million travelers on Friday of Memorial Day Weekend

The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) screened nearly 2 million travelers Friday heading into the Memorial Day weekend, a sign that more Americans are beginning to travel as coronavirus vaccines become more widespread.

TSA spokesperson Alexa Lopez confirmed that 1.96 million passengers, airport workers and aircrew were screened Friday and that the agency was “creeping up to 2 million.” The figure marks the highest number of passengers screened during the Covid-19 pandemic.

The influx of passengers comes as traveling starts to rebound after over a year of decline during the coronavirus pandemic. More than 1.5 million people traveled through U.S. airports in March — the first time since the beginning of the pandemic that air travel had reached that level.  Travel is expected to continue to rise as vaccines become more widespread in the U.S. “We’re very excited about the reemergence of travel, the chance for Americans to reunite with family and friends whom they haven’t seen for some time. … There’s going to be a tremendous amount of people traveling this weekend,” Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said. “Patience is required.”Figures from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) updated Friday showed that over half of the total U.S. population has received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine.  The CDC said earlier this month that people who are fully vaccinated against COVID-19 are not required to wear masks in most settings, both indoors and outdoors.  However, the TSA has announced that the federal mask mandate for all transportation networks, including on airplanes, in airports, on buses and on rail systems, would be extended through September.Nick Note: The captivies have been set free. And they will fly drive and get high

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Vietnam identifies new, highly transmissible variant of coronavirus

https://youtu.be/OvKxFUDF8DI

Vietnam has detected a new, highly transmissible variant of the coronavirus, the Vietnamese Health Ministry announced Saturday.  The variant, which is believed to have spurred a recent wave of COVID-19 infections in the country, has a mix of characteristics from both the strains first found in the United Kingdom and India, according to VnExpress, an international newspaper.  Specifically, Health Minister Nguyen Thanh Long said the new variant is a version of the one first found in India with mutations that originally belonged to the U.K. variant, according to the news outlet. The new variant is highly contagious when spread through the air, and Long said viral cultures revealed the virus was able to replicate very quickly.  “The Ministry of Health would announce the new coronavirus variant on the global genome map,” Long said, according to VnExpress. The variant has yet to be named.  The news from Vietnam comes as India continues to struggle after the coronavirus overwhelmed hospitals and created a dearth of medical supplies in the country.  In a potential sign of a coming reprieve, Reuters reported Saturday that the South Asian country has seen a decrease in cases for the first time in 45 days. India reported 173,790 new coronavirus infections in the last 24 hours. However, the wire service noted, the death toll rose to 3,617. The Indian variant, B.1.617, is thought to be the main cause of an explosion of cases in the country.  U.S health officials, including the nation’s top infectious diseases expert, Anthony Fauci, said coronavirus vaccines are effective against the Indian variant.  It remains unclear if a vaccine will stand up to the new variant announced by health officials in Vietnam. Nick Note: My two biggest fears are when not if our antibodies wear off and a variant comes along our vaccines cannot stop. This requires diligence….. I am on it.

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Israel high on list of best countries for families Israel ranked as world’s 8th most powerful country

https://youtu.be/f9fhdcYOxRY

Israel ranked as world’s 8th most powerful country

Israel was ranked #25 in the world’s “best countries” list of 2016, as compiled by US News & World Report. The single category in which Israel made the top ten was Power; Israel ranked #8 in that category, and the main reason was its military. The IDF received a score of 9.7 – similar to the US, and second only to Russia’s military, which received a perfect 10. Additional criteria for power included political influence, for which the Jewish state received a score of 7.6, and strong international alliances, for which it got a 5.8. It fared less well in the field of economic influence (2.4) and leadership (2.7). According to the report, Israel is very highly developed in terms of life expectancy, education, per capita income and other human development index indicators, but it also has “one of the most unequal economies in the Western world, with significant gaps between the rich and poor.” The top five “best countries” overall were Germany, Canada, Britain, the US and Sweden. Israel also did well in the Movers category, where it came in 14th place, receiving good scores for being Distinctive, Different and Unique. Surprisingly, it did less well in Entrepreneurship, where it came in at #21. This rank does not jibe with Israel’s reputation as a “start-up nation.” The study and model used to score and rank countries was developed by WPP’s brand strategy firm BAV Consulting and The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, in consultation with U.S. News & World Report. A set of 65 country attributes – terms that can be used to describe a country and that are also relevant to the success of a modern nation – were identified, and presented in a survey of more than 16,000 people from across the globe. The more a country was perceived to exemplify a certain characteristic in relation to the average, the higher that country’s attribute score. Attributes were grouped into nine sub-rankings: Adventure, Citizenship, Cultural Influence, Entrepreneurship, Heritage, Movers, Open for Business, Power and Quality of Life.

Israel high on list of best countries for families

A new report by InterNations lists the nineteen best countries to raise a family (according to expats) listed Israel third, just behind Finland and the Czech Republic. The UK and US were not on the list The expats – who were required to have dependents – were asked to rate their chosen countries on a scale of 1 to 7 for 43 issues. Only countries rated by 31 or more participants were included in the survey. Each country was rated based on safety, cost of living, childcare availability and affordability, quality of education, and healthcare. Israel was listed in the top three countries, coming in just behind Finland and the Czech Republic. Just behind Israel, in places four and five, were Austria and Sweden. The other countries, in descending order, were: Norway, Australia, Taiwan, Belgium, Germany, France, Poland, Netherlands, Luxembourg, South Africa, Singapore, Philippines, Mexico and South Korea. According to the Business Insider, Finland topped the list because, “no expat parent had anything negative to say about their children’s health, children’s safety, or children’s well-being in Finland. 70% of expats said the quality of education there is excellent, this is compared to the global average of just 21%.” Israel was ranked fourth last year but came in third this year, since “81% of expat parents are happy with the childcare options and they are similarly positive about the education options, with 84% expressing general satisfaction.”

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Where can you get the Worlds best health care.

Want medical care without quickly draining your fortune? Try Singapore or Hong Kong as your healthy havens. The U.S. will cost you the most for treatment, both in absolute terms and relative to average incomes, while life expectancy of Americans — about 79 years — was exceeded by more than 25 countries and territories, according to an annual Bloomberg analysis in almost 200 economies.

Hong Kong, Singapore, Japan and Israel took the top four spots in the Bloomberg countries of  with the most efficient health care, The UK came in 14th, Canada 17th, Iran 45th, and the US 46th.

The London-based Legatum Institute, compared 104 variables and listed nine subindexes. The study examined three basic components of health: availability of preventive care, health infrastructure, and citizens’ physical and mental health. 149 countries were included in the comparison, with Israel included in the top ten. These ten were, in order:

1. Luxembourg One of the wealthiest nations, Luxembourg has a life expectancy of 82. Luxembourg came in first in the research’s health and personal freedom subindices, and second in their safety subindex.

2. Singapore came in first place for safety, and second for health. Its 5.6 million citizens have an average life expectancy of 83.1 years.

3. Switzerland With mandatory health insurance, Switzerland came in third in the study’s health subindex and first in the education subindex. However, the European country ranked eighth in safety and eighteenth in personal freedom.

4. Japan With the highest average life expectancy – 83.7 -years, it may not be a surprise that Japan’s health index ranked fourth highest. The Asian “Land of the Rising Sun” also came in third for safety.

5. Netherlands Though the Netherlands came in fifth for best health, they ranked second economic quality and education, and fourth in governance. However, in 2015 the Netherlands ranked at the top of the annual Euro health consumer index, which compares healthcare systems in Europe, scoring 916 of a maximum 1,000 points.

6. Sweden ranked sixth on the study’s health index and fifth on its governance index. With the fourth highest life expectancy in the world, the average Swedish man will live 80.7 years.

7. Hong Kong Ranking seventh in health and fourth in business environment, Hong Kong has 53 hospitals (42 public and 11 private) for its population of 7.2 million.

8. Australia Australia ranked second in personal freedom, fourth in education, seventh in business environment, and eight in health. With the best health ranking in the southern hemisphere, Australia’s life expectancy is 82.8, placing it as fourth highest globally.

9. Israel  received the highest health rating in the Middle East, and its citizens have a life expectancy of 82.5 years – eighth highest in the world. The country’s single-payer, multiple-provider system ensures that every citizen receives health coverage, yet insurance providers must compete in order to draw clients and receive funding.

10. Germany ranked fifth in business environment, seventh in safety, ninth in social capital, and tenth in health care and governance. With an average life expectancy of 81, Germany’s citizens are some of the healthiest in the world.

 

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Logitech CEO says chip shortage will last up to 6 months

ZURICH (Reuters) – The global shortage of semiconductor chips could last three to six months, Logitech Chief Executive Bracken Darrell told Swiss newspaper Finanz und Wirtschaft, with some industries facing shortages of up to a year. “Like others we have felt the shortages, but we have been able to cushion them well,” Darrell said in an article published on Friday. “It takes time to ramp up production but in the meantime, prices have also adjusted.” The computer peripheral maker has used new suppliers for some parts, Darrell said, as in some cases its main suppliers did not have enough capacity. Nick Note: This chip shortage will so be old news

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AMC Entertainment shares shoot up 40% as Reddit traders double down

https://youtu.be/mnEKokV80ks

Shares of AMC Entertainment soared another 40% on Thursday as speculative trading activity skyrocketed in the movie theater chain’s stock among Reddit-obsessed day traders. The stock surged as much as 47% in afternoon trading Thursday, pushing its week-to-date advance to a whopping 135%. AMC has overtaken GameStop to become the most-loved stock in the infamous WallStreetBets Reddit forum, according to Bank of America’s analysts of stock mentions in the platform. With its massive rally on Thursday, AMC has diverged from its meme stock peer GameStop, which made Wall Street history in January with its 400% short squeeze in a single week. Shares of GameStop were up just 0.6% Thursday after rallying 15% in the previous session. One of the trending posts on WallStreetBets chatroom Thursday said “AMC rocket ship,” while another said “invested all my savings into AMC!!! Wish me luck guys.”The so-called short covering could be contributing to AMC’s massive rally this week. AMC has about 20% of its float shares sold short, compared with an average of 5% short interest in a typical U. S. stock, according to data from S3 Partners.”AMC short sellers have been covering some of their exposure lately reversing their short selling trend earlier in the month,” said Ihor Dusaniwsky of S3 Partners. When a heavily shorted stock jumps higher in a rapid fashion, short sellers are forced to buy back borrowed shares to close out their short position and cut losses. The forced buying tends to fuel the rally even further. Short sellers betting against AMC have incurred a $1 billion loss this week alone, according to the data. Wall Street analysts have been baffled about the more than 1,200% jump in AMC’s stock since January. The company, which has around $5 billion in debt and $450 million in deferred lease repayments, has seen revenues slashed significantly due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. While the movie theater business is rebounding, AMC is still facing steep headwinds. While the movie theater chain ended the first quarter with $1 billion in liquidity, the most it’s ever had in its 100-year history, that cash in hand, will only keep AMC stay afloat through 2022 if movie theaters are able to do a significant portion of the business they did in 2019. During the first quarter, AMC posted $148.3 million in revenue, down 84.2% from the same period a year ago. Its net loss shrunk to $567.2 million, or $1.42 per share in the quarter, from a loss of $2.18 billion, or $20.88 per share, a year earlier. Despite generating significantly lower revenue in 2021, AMC’s valuation has nearly tripled thanks to these new retail investors. On the last day of 2019, AMC had an enterprise value of $5.8 billion, on Wednesday, that value stood at around $13.4 billion.